Characteristics of the methodology used to describe students' conceptions

In a paper published elsewhere (Jimenez Gomez et al. 1997), we compared research carried out on students' conceptions of force in the decade 1975-85 with later research in the period 1985-95. Only a slight progression was found in the results offered by different authors. In this contribution we analyse the research objectives of selected investigations into students' conceptions of force, their methodological characteristics and their most widely used theoretical foundations, in an attempt to explain the lack of progress made in this research line. Some suggestions are made which may help the science teaching profession to understand students' conceptions better.